Ahhh, the aroma of New Mexico in August ...

[Bill in Oregon]

Hatch chiles, grown about 50 miles from here, getting a good blister over charcoal. Can't beat the wonderful scent ...

[GunnyMack]

Yeah Bill, the food is what I miss most about being in Colorado. The REAL authentic Mexican food can't be beat.
In Trinidad there was the El Paso Cafe, they ran a $2.99 lunch buffet ( 30 years ago pricing) and once a week a bunch of us would go to chow down. The staff would visibly cringe when we walked in the door!
One of the secretaries and her mother were always putting up an order sheet for tamales or tortillas on her office door. Man I'm getting hungry!!

[JimT]

I loved the smell of the Sonoran Desert after a rain. The sage .. the mesquite .. even the Palo Verde smell so good. I miss that, not having lived in it for years now.

[Walt]

Where do you do your grocery shopping, Bill? The major grocery stores in Albuquerque all have their chile roasters roaring, filling the air with that lovely aroma.

[jeepnik]

Jim, your mention of the desert after a rain is one of the reasons the Mojave is my happy place. It's still easy to get far enough away from people that the silence causes these old ears to ring at a deafening decibel level. You can look as far as the eye can see and not see anything man made that you didn't bring with you. Even in the middle of summer the dawn and dusk reveal beauty that most will never understand.

This summer has been relatively mild. Hopefully that foretells a wetter rainy season. The plants explode is short lived blooms that literally stun the eyes with their beauty. And yes, there is the scent of the desert after a rain. And watching an dry wash become a raging, life taking torrent that sweeps through and can be gone almost as fast leaving small pools that will all too soon disappear.

[gamekeeper]

My all to short a time in the Sonoran desert taught me about real natural beauty...

[Bill in Oregon]

The desert smells amazing after a rain. In Las Cruces, the dominant scent is what is released by the creosote bushes. A trick I learned to show visitors to Oliver Lee State Park south of Alamo was to cup your hands around a creosote twig and breathe on it. The moisture in our breath is enough to activate that rain scent. Fun seeing visitors' faces light up.
Walt, I have not seen any roasting going on here in Silver, sorry to say. When I lived in Alamo, there were lines of folks lined up with boxes of chiles in their carts at the roasters out in front of the Lowe's market.

[GunnyMack]

Bill could I ask you a favor? Keep your eyes open for Pinyon ( pine) nuts.
These were a staple for the native Americans, being part Washoe I grew up eating them every fall. Now that most of my family from Nevada/CA are gone and the local grocer retired AND the fires wiped out the Nevada/CA trees I'm at a loss for pine nuts.
The pinyon pine doesn't produce until about 70yrs old so even if I was out where my grandmother lived I still couldn't get any...
If you have never had them , they are delicious!

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, we see cars and trucks parked along the roads here in fall and winter selling them by the pound. Driving across the Black Range a couple of years ago, the still-green crop was heavy up near Emory Pass.

[GunnyMack]

IF I REMEMBER I'm going to hit you up for 5 or 6 pounds this fall ! I'll PAY you handsomely!!!

[Walt]

I have probably a dozen or more pinon trees in my yard.

[GunnyMack]

You are a lucky man !
Question is do the produce cones?

[jeepnik]

Bill could I ask you a favor? Keep your eyes open for Pinyon ( pine) nuts.
These were a staple for the native Americans, being part Washoe I grew up eating them every fall. Now that most of my family from Nevada/CA are gone and the local grocer retired AND the fires wiped out the Nevada/CA trees I'm at a loss for pine nuts.
The pinyon pine doesn't produce until about 70yrs old so even if I was out where my grandmother lived I still couldn't get any...
If you have never had them , they are delicious!

The four corner states have pinyon pines. If I recall, they live above 6 or 7 thousand feet. Should be lots of areas in those states that have them.

[High Desert Hunter]

Bill I've already gotten one bushel at Lowe's, will need to get at least 2 more in order to survive until next harvest. I eat eggs with green Chiles 9 days of every 10.

Dave

[Bill in Oregon]

Makin' me hungry Dave!

[Malamute]

Brought back some good memories. Love the smell of chilis, had a Gf that cooked Las Cruces mex food, quite well. The smell of the desert after the rains is like magic, as is the sagebrush country up north.

Had a part Navajo, part Mex GF long ago in Az that gathered pinions, she kept some in her pocket, when we were riding she'd hand me some to eat one at a time. One I shouldnt have let get away....

Theres a guy on youtube that rides his mules and has his lion dogs with him most of the time, he rides around southern NM, sometimes day rides, sometimes camping. Sometimes desert, sometimes in the mountains. He likes recounting the history of various places he goes, its pretty interesting and relaxing to watch. He usually has a Winchester 94 in a saddle scabbard, sometimes recently its some sort of brass frame henry, i dont know what caliber or model. His channel name is Born 100 years too late. He doesnt hunt much in the recent vids, but dealt with a problem lion that was way too bold around a kid waiting for the school bus and took the kids dog. They called him and Brett got that squared away pretty quickly.


Edit: forgot to mention, theres several facebook pages or groups about New Mexico cooking, history, the country, pictures, etc. Some pretty good stuff. Tons about Az also.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Went into the grocery store the other day and grabbed a pack of Johnsonville Hatch Chile Breakfast Links. I can get that wonderful smell and taste and not have to travel past the Publix down the street. I must admit, I do miss the dry heat out West ... at least your sweat evaporates. Down here in Florida, you can take a walk around the block and come back with soaking wet socks as the sweat just runs down into your shoes. Zero cooling from sweating down here.

[Walt]

Newbies eat pinons one at a time. If you want your hands free to do other things, you put a small handful of them into your mouth and crack them one at a time. If you do this too long, your tongue gets a sore spot at the tip from finishing the cracking of the pinon and if you bite into a soft one it was most likely a rabbit turd.

[Bill in Oregon]